Everything transient
by Ceilonn
Summary: Sebastian has a secret fear, and he's determined to overcome it. What happens when his colleague, William Spears finds out?  Does William have ulterior motives? Who is he hiding from? AU, eventual SebastianxWilliam
1. Fear vs Dignity

**Hey people~  
>This is just a test idea for a story so far. It's WilliamxSebastian (after a while) EH and I didn't want it to be heaps long. I'm determined to keep Sebastian in character this time. I find it's easier with AU, theres no "He's a demon, so he can't do this or this," because he's just a plain old human now.<br>Try it out, lemmeh know.  
>:3<br>-Even if the pairing isn't to your taste, which it isn't for a lot of people, just tell me if it's worth continuing-**

The water was always so dark, so still. The large pool gymnasium was lit with the tinge of sunset through its enormous glass roof.  
>Sebastian only ever came after school hours, after he had finished giving classes for the day.<br>After all the students and even most of the teachers had gone, he would make his way up to the pool gymnasium with his swimmers.  
>Nothing much had changed between that and the last few days.<p>

And he would sit at the edge of the water, cross-legged, and stare. He would sit there until it grew cold and he began to shiver, and goosebumps rose on his skin.  
>But he never swam.<br>Running a hand through his hair, he sighed.  
>"I wonder if I'll ever…" But the thought seemed more hopeless every day. Though he had been coming here for a few days now, he didn't think he'd ever get past it. The water was too big a hurdle for the teacher, it was as if, were he to touch the liquid, he would be swallowed up instantly.<p>

Sebastian Michaelis considered this his biggest secret, because as far as the rest of the world knew, there was nothing that could disturb him. He was stoic perfection. Nothing shocked him, nothing bothered him, nothing frightened him. As far as the rest of the world knew. None of those statements were true, but he'd never tell a soul. He'd never admit to being afraid of something as trivial as water.  
>Sebastian was an attractive man, with jet hair, carmine eyes, and a toned, willowy body. He was fit, so it shouldn't be unusual to see him at the pool. He was very peculiar, all the way down to the tips of his nails, which were a sleek obsidian and always had been.<p>

He tossed his bag to the floor with an air of annoyance. For one expected to be as cold as he, it truly irritated him that he couldn't get past this stupid fear. It was just ridiculous, but he froze up inside at the mere sound of water.

As he pulled his black pants back up, he heard a voice behind him.  
>"Look who it is," the voice murmured, and Sebastian turned to see the only man in the world who could possibly fit the words stoic perfection better than he could.<p>

"Sly as always, William. I didn't hear you enter."  
>"Don't address me so informally, Michaelis," said the brunette, and pushed his glasses a little further up the bridge of his nose. His hair was combed to the right, tight, short and neat.<br>He was very much the same build as Sebastian, if not a little shorter. There was certainly no fuss about William T. Spears, although one may stop to wonder about his eyes, which were both polychromic, a strange blend of yellow with green inner irises.

"And what makes you think I haven't been here the whole time?" His glare was icy as always.  
>Sebastian's eyelid twitched slightly and William sneered. "Don't think I haven't seen you here before. I know what you're up to."<br>"Are you some kind of voyeur, then? You're no PE teacher, William, so I don't know what business you have being up here, unless it's something perverse."  
>He prayed William was bluffing. Sebastian would have sensed him if he was already in the building, and how could he know what he was up to, anyway?"<br>"In fact, you're looking a little out of breath, William, so I'd believe you just got here. If you've seen me before, perhaps you were in a rush to come here and watch me again before I left. Really, I wouldn't have thought such perversity of you."

William sneered. "Don't flatter yourself, who'd come here to view your filthy body?" He adjusted his glasses again. "I…"  
>Sebastian analysed this pause. William didn't have an excuse for why he was here, and thankfully didn't seem to know what Sebastian was up to.<br>"Well, what are you doing here, repeatedly?" Sebastian asked.  
>"What are YOU doing here, repeatedly?" William countered, folding his arms.<br>"Well, it's a pool, I've got swimmers, perhaps I'm here to swim?" Sebastian asked. Wishful thinking.  
>William scowled.<br>"What's your excuse, given you're not carrying any swimmers?" asked Sebastian, smirking.  
>"Perhaps I'm wearing them, idiot?" William hissed.<br>"Are you in the habit of wearing your swimmers to work then?"

William had had enough, and turned on his heel, though Sebastian detected a slight hesitance. William seemed to be glancing through the windows anxiously, an odd look for him.  
>Sebastian began to button his shirt, feeling smug.<br>"How odd you should have been here to swim, when there is not a drop of water on you," William murmured, and shut the door behind him.  
>Sebastian's eyes widened slightly. Shit. Ah, and William had won this round.<br>But regardless, he wouldn't let the water win against him. If William found out, he'd have to find a way to blackmail him, because it was worse to lose the battle against the water than to lose face in front of William.  
>Fear versus dignity. Dignity was hard to maintain, but fear was a much tougher challenge.<p>

But William knew more than Sebastian thought. As he drove home in the intense traffic, he let his thoughts run round his head. He had run up to that gym…to hide, before they came. He did this most days. But the last two times he came up there, that Sebastian was there, and William had seen him, just sitting by the edge of the pool, staring.  
>What was his problem, honestly? The stone-cold bastard, sitting there like he…like he was afraid to enter the water. William had discarded the thought on the first day, but today was much of the same thing. He'd only watched Sebastian sit there for about two minutes before he got up to get dressed, looking pissed off.<br>Could Michaelis really be afraid of the water?

William wondered if perhaps he would have to find a way to get Sebastian away from that place, because William needed to be there. He couldn't let them find him again. The first time was just so humiliating, and he vowed he'd never lose face like that again. He could never tell Sebastian of the situation.  
>He needed him gone, no matter what it took.<p> 


	2. Dead in the Darkness

Sebastian didn't expect to see William again the next day, but he didn't show up at the gym-pool anyway. It would seem a little unordinary that Sebastian would go there every single day, and he was still unsure as to how much William knew.

As Friday dawned though, he knew he had to go back. Sebastian had spent Thursday mentally preparing himself to go into the water, and now he felt ready. With this mentality, he knew he had to go as soon as possible. Screw William, Sebastian refused to give in, to submit to his fear.  
>It was a weakness, he had to overcome it.<p>

With his bag of swimmers, he headed up to the gymnasium once more, determined more than ever to get in the water. He was sure that once he just got IN the water, it would be okay.  
>Sebastian carefully checked the gym to see whether or not William or anybody was around, but thankfully not.<br>So he undressed, trembling as he did so, donned his swimmers and crouched at the pools edge. He felt ridiculous, but he didn't want to wait around for long. He wanted to get in there. Glaring, he raised his hand, and moved to slam it into the water, but he found he stopped himself inches from the surface.  
>"Damn it." He pushed himself again, but his muscles seemed to lock up just before submersion.<p>

Then he practically heaved his arm down, and he felt it break the surface, but the momentum pulled his own body towards the surface, closer and closer, and he felt his forehead become immersed. In that last horrified moment, his other hand tore against the tiles and he twisted and yanked himself out of the water on to the tiles.

Sebastian was not used to terror. Usually, he couldn't confront his fear far enough. But now he sat back, his hands shaking intensely, his heart pounding.  
>The water had grabbed him once he touched it. He knew that's what had happened. It had tried to drag him under and drown him.<br>It was then he heard the doors bang open and saw William run in and lock the door behind him.  
>They froze on site of each other.<p>

"You're still here?"  
>"You again?"<br>William looked dishevelled, and so did Sebastian.  
>His fellow teacher walked across to him, and Sebastian could see the blush from quite a distance away.<br>The raven swallowed, catching his breath, forcing calmness over himself, but it was evident to William that something was wrong.  
>"What's the matter with you?" he snapped, and Sebastian got to his feet quickly.<br>"I should ask the same of you. You look as if the hounds of hell were at your heels."  
>"You're being ridiculous," William replied, adjusting his glasses.<br>"Why did you lock the door then? What are you up to?"  
>They met each other face to face, a stand off.<br>"What are you doing laying on the ground? And your hands are shaking. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're af-" Sebastian stiffened.  
>"Maybe just mind your own business, William Spears. I don't care who your hiding from, find a different place to-"<br>"How dare you assume that I'm hiding!"  
>"Look at you, pale as a ghost. You're terrified of something, whoever you're hiding from-"<br>"I'm not hiding!" William shouted, and before he knew it, had pushed Sebastian into the icy water.

The world went numb for Sebastian Michaelis.  
>His heart felt like it stopped as he became submerged in the dark water. All he could think about was its icy grip around his chest, his lungs were being crushed under the pressure, he couldn't breathe. He couldn't move.<p>

William was just going to leave him. He knew he shouldn't have pushed him, but Sebastian was touching so close on his most sensitive nerve. He hadn't meant to push him, his body had just moved out of anger.  
>He felt almost bad, but not bad enough to apologize. He decided he'd leave before the bastard got out of the pool and tried to beat him up like the thug he was.<p>

Half way to the door, he glanced back. Sebastian hadn't broken the surface yet, which William thought very strange.  
>Now with his hand on the door, he glanced back once more and Sebastian was still under the water.<br>A shock of panic went through William's body.  
>Shit. SHIT.<p>

He turned on his heel and ran to where he'd pushed his colleague into the pool.  
>Why did he have to push him in the deep end?<br>And he saw, with horror, Sebastian at the very bottom, white and lifeless. Before he knew it, William had quickly removed his glasses and shoes and dove into the water.

Goddamn it.  
>William sped through the water with ease, meeting Sebastian's unmoving body.<p>

_I was tied up, trapped, bound. The water had me, and it would never relinquish its hold. I was choking, drowning, and yet I felt so numb. I felt like nothing. The water had won. It had beaten me. Faintly, my eyes opened, and I was dead in the darkness. I didn't mind this._

William was rather blind without his glasses, but he was close enough to the man to see his red eyes open in the darkness, upon him. William went still. Sebastian was conscious. _Conscious. _  
>For a few seconds, he could do nothing but stare into his eyes.<p>

_And then there was William. Somewhere, I wondered why he was here. He had pushed me here, and yet come to save me. Millimetres from me, our eyes met for a time that had seemed like an eternity. His eyes were so strange, so noticeably polychromic, and could be so fierce at times, I knew. But now he looked so gentle._

_Never in my life had I experienced a connection like that._

William snapped out of his daze as his brain began to cry out for oxygen and he pushed off the bottom of the surface, dragging Sebastian behind him, which was no easy feat. Sebastian wasn't light, and William wondered if he was going to drown too. Drown with Sebastian.

But then their heads broke the surface and normality was restored. The brunette pushed Sebastian to the edge, rolling him out of the water, and weakly dragged himself out too, panting.  
>Sebastian had fainted sometime during his ascent to the surface, and it was William's duty to resuscitate him, which he did quickly and without a second thought.<br>Sebastian's head snapped to the side and he coughed up all the water he'd ingested. William donned his glasses, just in time to see Sebastian's eyes slide up to meet his own.  
>"…William.."<br>William grabbed his shoulders.  
>"What on Earth were you thinking? Were you trying to kill yourself?"<br>He watched the colour drain from Sebastian's face.  
>With wide eyes, Sebastian sat up and turned away from William, his pulse rapidly increasing, his breathing erratic.<br>"For god's sake, you're an idiot. Were you trying to die, Sebastian? Tell me that."  
>"It was n-never my intention. But the water…it took me. It nearly had me. It was so close."<br>His whole body was trembling, and his eyes were filled with tears of shock and confusion.

William realized he was right all along. Sebastian had some irrational fear of the water.  
>"So that's why you come here all the time. You want to overcome your phobia."<br>Sebastian couldn't meet his eyes. If William wasn't here, he wondered how he'd be responding.  
>He gripped the tiles with shivering hands, trying to calm down, trying to show William he was fine. It was near impossible.<p>

There was one fact he couldn't deny. William had saved his life. So perhaps he did deserve an explanation. Sebastian looked up at him uncomfortably.  
>"I tried to, but…I couldn't bring myself to get in. I couldn't put a finger in the pool. And you…"<br>"I pushed you in…and you freaked out."  
>"No, that's not what happened. As soon as I went under, there was no way I could go back up."<br>"Can't you swim?"  
>"I can. But the water…It wouldn't let me go. I couldn't move. …And then, I knew I was going to die…" He hid his face behind his hair.<br>William glanced at his watch. They should be gone by now. Sebastian was clearly in shock and was trying not to show it, so slowly, William placed an awkward hand on Sebastian's shoulder. It was no surprise the man stiffened immediately.  
>"I'm…" William struggled with the word. "I'm sorry. I acted foolishly and you were put in considerable danger as a result. I offer my services to you as reparation. You're welcome to return to my house, and I'll make you some tea and get dry clothes."<br>Sebastian's cheeks started to burn. "I don't need reparation from you. I'm thankful for your assistance, otherwise I wouldn't have made it out. However, I think you understand how I feel right now, and I would appreciate it if you simply left."  
>Sebastian wiped his treacherous eyes and tried to get to his feet.<br>"You shouldn't move just yet-" William protested, grabbing at his arm, but Sebastian slapped it aside. William was right though, his legs wouldn't support him yet.  
>"Don't touch me, Spears." William could understand the way he was feeling. If it was him, he'd respond much the same.<br>"Sebastian, I-"  
>"Will you just leave me alone?" he asked quietly, his whole body still in tremors.<br>William sighed. "I want to talk to you." Sebastian looked at him with slight curiosity.  
>"I suppose I owe you, after all. If you wish it, I'll speak with you. But not today. Today, I want you to leave me alone."<br>"Alright, I'll go. See you on Monday." William stood and left the gym. Sebastian watched him go with an empty face.

As the door shut, his head dropped into his hands miserably.  
>There was no way he could do this again. There was no hope for overcoming this fear. The water would beat him, no matter what.<p>

-  
><strong>Hey, just testing out a story idea. Let me know if it's worth continuing. <strong>


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